5.24.26 – Servant in You – 4 – Kinship and Pentecost
“Servant in You” – Kinship and Pentecost Sunday
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
5 At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
7 They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! 9 Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” 12 They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.
13 But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”
14 Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.
21 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’[h]
22 “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene[i] by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.
36 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day.
This is the birth narrative of what we today call the “Christian Church on earth”
One Special Day …. that continues today!
- Wind and Fire – Presence and Power
- A new community of Presence based people.
What divides broken humanity does not divide any more when the Presence of God revealed in Jesus now manifested by His Spirit is at the center.
· Language no longer separates
And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability……and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers…They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!
· Ethnicities, gender, age, race, geographies, ---- no longer separate
· Socio-economic status and social status – no longer separate.
’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.
21 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved…..38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
· Even the most severe social and demographic barriers – the Jew/Gentile divide were overcome by the unifying work of the Holy Spirit.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us…..He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 4:14-22)
This new Community of Humanity, the body of Christ, the manifests itself to each other and to the world primarily as “LOVE” …. By how we live and act with each other and all people.
We have been talking about “service” as
“Expressing Christ like love through meeting practical needs in the life of an other … especially those who need our help the most.
“Servant in You” service is expressed in four critical ways:
Love ----- Hiddenness ----- Availability ----- Kinship
Pentecost makes Kinship Possible
Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
The rich man with flowing robes who lived in luxury everyday.
Who gets a name? Lazarus – “God helps”
The rich man helped Lazarus but did not see Lazarus as ___________!-
“While he helped Lazarus, he failed to form a lasting relationship with Lazarus.
He failed to see Lazarus on equal footing with himself. He failed to love the person he was “taking care of”.
He failed to treat Lazarus as a person with head-to-toe human needs and aspirations. This failure toward Lazarus was probably the rich man's failing towards others as well.
As charitable as he was, he was self-centered rather than other centered. He cared about poverty in general, but he wouldn't get his hands dirty with this particular poor man, Lazarus, who was right outside his door… even though he fed Lazarus the charity case, he refused to invite Lazarus the person to the table with him. Jesus expects his followers to do more than ladle out food to the poor. Jesus expects his followers to treat the poor as our brothers and best friends and ladle our love to them as we do our friends and relatives around the table God has provided us.” Len Sweet – Tablet to Table
“Come Holy Spirit”